Twitter Enhances Texting Infrastructure
Today, Twitter announced that it is acquiring Cloudhopper, a provider of cell phone texting infrastructure. According to a blog post by the company, Twitter already sees nearly a billion text messages going through its system each month, from all over the world. The new partnership will allow Twitter to better connect with mobile networks in even more countries, especially where cell phone users are more likely to have basic phones, rather than high-tech internet-capable devices.
While Twitter already allows users to select Spanish as their language preference, no Latin American countries are yet listed under the site’s instructions for setting up SMS updates.
However, with the Cloudhopper acquisition and with future ones that will surely follow, it will be interesting to see how the popularity of Twitter spreads throughout Latin America. I remember reading in Groundswell how new online/communication/social media technologies are most likely to catch on if they’re easily accessible. With the prevalence of cell phones throughout Latin America and the level at which these mobile users are comfortable with SMS technology, I’m anxious to see the effect of Twitter becoming even more accessible to these markets.
Cover Photo Source: Anthony Correia / Shutterstock.com
